As Carrie Ann wrote in her Parade blog after Week 6, “I worked on Showgirls with Elizabeth Berkley. It was in honesty one of the worst jobs I’ve ever done. I didn’t care for it at all and while I was cast in a speaking role, I ended up taking another job as a creative director in Japan and quit. There were a lot of talented people on that film, but the environment was quite toxic. It had a dark feel to it, people were getting hurt, and sometimes a creative environment can go dark. It was fun to work with so many of my friends for so long and Marguerite Derricks, who is now a dear friend, did a fine job of choreographing it. Seeing Elizabeth really make a comeback last night with her Cha-Cha was wonderful.”

Elizabeth got the first perfect score of the season with her Cha-Cha. “She owned it, and after the performance, she came up to the judges with tears in her eyes,” Carrie Ann continued. “It’s moments like those that get embedded in my heart. It’s a powerful reminder that as judges, we affect these people’s lives…deeply. It’s an honor and a privilege that I don’t take lightly.”

Very sweet. And what a shame about the Showgirls experience. When time travel is invented, perhaps someone should go back and unmake that movie.

On that note, she wrote, “People are concerned with the consistency of Len’s scoring. I wish I could answer that, but I will have to let Len answer that question. For me, I call lifts when I see them. I always have. There is a difference, however, between a lift and move where the dancer actually lifts their own feet off the ground.”

For example, in the Quickstep Leah Remini and Tony Dovolani did this past week, they had a move where her feet came off the ground. “But that’s not a lift,” Carrie Ann argued. “It’s more like a throw. She’s supporting herself and can do that move without the strength of her partner to hold her up. It’s not a perfect science, but that’s the main difference.” She explained that she is consistent about calling lifts, and the rule is instated to “keep the playing field level for the older and less physically strong contestants, so that all the dances didn’t just become show dances with lifts and tricks.” Ultimately, “this rule forces the couples to stay on the ground and really dance.”